Mercer University
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North Fla.
Bears, Ospreys Split Doubleheader Saturday
4/7/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
BOX SCORE - Game One: Mercer wins, 3-2
BOX SCORE - Game Two: UNF wins, 2-1
MACON, Ga. – After a gutsy 3-2 victory in game one of Saturday's Atlantic Sun doubleheader against North Florida, the Mercer softball team watched its potential sweep of the Ospreys slip away as UNF earned the split taking game two, 2-1 at Sikes Field.
Senior Kassie Bailey came up with a timely walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to give the Bears (24-16, 5-3 A-Sun) the one-run win in game one while UNF's pitching staff limited the Bears to just four hits in game to earn the 2-1 decision. UNF improves to 23-18 overall and evened up its conference record to 5-5 in the split.
GAME ONE
Mercer wasted little time in jumping out to an early lead against the Ospreys, plating a pair of runs in the bottom of the first.
Woody walked to lead off the game, and after Marko struck out, Bailey would become the second Mercer base runner after she was hit by a pitch.
With two away and Bailey at first and Woody at second, Sarah Santana hit what was seemingly a harmless fly ball to UNF right fielder Lauren Pollack, however, she misplayed the ball and it would drop to the ground, allowing Woody and Bailey to score unearned runs and give the Bears an early 2-0 advantage.
The Bears upheld the advantage until the top half of the fifth inning when UNF evened the score by scoring a couple of unearned runs of its own.
UNF's Jackie Reese deposited a Bailey pitch into left center to lead off the top half of the fifth inning, as Kaley Brosky followed Reese's double by reaching on a fielder's choice.
Chie Someya would become the Ospreys' third base runner of the inning and recorded UNF's first RBI of the day when she reached on an error by first baseman Kristin Marko, and advanced all the way to third on the throw. The error allowed both Brosky and Reese to cross the plate and tie the game, 2-2.
Kassie Bailey, however proved to be the difference in game one as the senior from Evans, Ga. came up with a clutch two-out bloop RBI single to left field in the bottom half of the seventh inning that allowed Caitlin Peisel to cross the plate. Bailey's timely hit gave herself the win in game one as she was also the pitcher of record. She is now 9-5 on the year.
Bailey's RBI was part of what has been an especially memorable week for the senior as she has driven in nine runs over the past week and now leads the Bears with 28 RBI on the season. Earlier this week, Bailey was named the College Sports Madness A-Sun Softball Player of the Week.
Tied 2-2 heading into the bottom half of the seventh, Caitlin Peisel and Randi Rea would help set the table for Bailey's late-inning heroics.
Peisel, who has nine hits in the past four games, led off the inning with an infield single, outpacing the throw from UNF third baseman Alyson Bailey. Peisel came into the weekend with a total of just 10 hits and a .217 overall batting average. With her breakout performance at the plate, Peisel raised her average .111 points on the weekend and now maintains a .328 batting average.
After Krista Kennedy lined out to first base, Randi Rea came to the plate and recorded the Bears' second single of the inning, slapping a Kaylie Wallace pitch into right field, and then advanced to second on an errant UNF throw. Peisel was able to advance into scoring position at third on the play.
A Mackenzie Woody pop out to third base and a Kristin Marko walk, loaded the bases for Bailey with two outs. Bailey placed Wallace's first pitch over UNF's third baseman's head down left field line to easily score Peisel from third to set-off rowdy celebrations in the Bears' dugout as a result of the walk-off win.
Bailey recorded her third-straight win in the circle and improved to 9-5 on the campaign. Meanwhile, UNF's Wallace, who came into the matchup as the reigning A-Sun Pitcher of the Week, fell to 12-5 on the campaign with the loss.
Bailey went the entire way, recording eight strikeouts, two runs and scattered six hits without issuing a walk.
GAME TWO
The Ospreys rebounded in game two and put the early pressure on the Bears scoring a go-ahead run in the top of the first as Mercer starting pitcher Jessica Holsinger took a while to get warmed up.
Holsinger loaded the bases after registering just one out in the first and then allowed a run to come across on a wild pitch, giving the Ospreys the 1-0 lead. The freshman would limit the damage by striking out the next two UNF batters, but the Bears chances were hampered as the team was just 8-7 on the year when the opposing team scores first.
Holsinger allowed UNF's leadoff batter to reach in six of the seven innings on Saturday and the Ospreys took advantage extending their lead in the second. Holsinger plunked UNF's Kelly Dill to start the second and after a subsequent single and a throwing error, Dill resided on third and would be brought home off a Kaley Brosky RBI single to center.
The Bears again were able to get out of the inning, allowing just the one run and played behind a 2-0 deficit until the bottom of the fifth.
In perhaps their best scoring opportunity of the game, Mercer ended up plating just one run in the fifth with a bases loaded situation with just one out. A UNF pitching change led to the Bears one run as Ashley Brown came in and immediately hit Kassie Bailey to bring home Randi Rea, cutting the UNF lead to 2-1.
Tiffany Phillips and Kristin Marko failed to come up with a hit allowing UNF to escape the inning with the lead. In the bottom of the seventh, the Bears again had a chance to tie the game as McKenzie Woody quickly made herself eligible to score off a single and UNF error.
Woody beat an errant throw to first and advanced to second in hopes that one of her teammates would bring her home. With one out, the red-hot Caitlin Peisel unfortunately couldn't come up with a hit and went down swinging on a 1-2 pitch.
Again it was left up to Bailey to come up with the big hit and for all intents and purposes looked like she would come through. Bailey laced a hard shot up the middle, but UNF's second baseman, Chie Someya made a remarkable diving catch to end the game the Bears' hopes for a sweep.
Holsinger went down for the second day in a row and drops her overall record to 11-4 on the year. She threw the complete game, striking out seven and walking four. She allowed five hits and allowed two run, one earned in her outing.
The Bears head back out on the road to continue the second half of A-Sun conference play next week in Florida. Mercer travels to Stetson on Thursday for a 4 p.m. doubleheader before heading further south to play Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday. FGCU and Mercer get underway at 2 p.m. Saturday.
